By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
STATE COLLEGE – Maranda Runco, Madison Kizer, Kat Davis, Courtney Rebar and Chiara Zavislak finished what they started two years ago.
Mid Valley returned to Penn State’s Beard Field Saturday afternoon and captured its first Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state Class 3A softball title with a 1-0 victory over Juniata.
The four seniors and Zavislak, a junior, were starters two years ago when Mid Valley took a first-inning lead, held it until the fourth and never trailed until the fifth of a 5-3 loss to Mount Pleasant.
The Spartanettes scored in the first inning again and, this time, held that lead the rest of the way.
Runco closed out her four-hit shutout with the last three of her nine strikeouts in succession in the seventh inning.
Mid Valley played error-free defense while recording 10 infield outs, stranding six runners and erasing another with a double play.
Third baseman Kizer started the double play with two runners on and none out in the sixth inning, throwing across the diamond to Rebar at first base. Second baseman Davis then handled the groundball for the last out for the second time in three innings.
Runco also had one of the team’s two hits. The other was provided by Zavislak, who then sprinted around the bases for the only run when her two-out dribbler up the third-base line was thrown past the first baseman all the way into the corner in foul territory of the large college field that is home of the Penn State team.
Juniata junior lefty Elizabeth Gaisior, who is already verbally committed to Fordham University, struck out 10 and did not allow an earned run while walking just one.
MORE TO COME
Return to this website for a more complete report on the game, still to come.
